


Unmask

by Mystrothedefender



Category: The Tick (TV 1994), The Tick (TV 2001), The Tick (TV 2017), The Tick - All Media Types
Genre: Cute, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 04:52:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12051708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystrothedefender/pseuds/Mystrothedefender
Summary: One wednesday morning the Tick receives an unusual and threatening letter. Arthur devises a plan to find the senders and bring them down.





	Unmask

It was a usual wednesday morning for Tick and Arthur. Tick was sat in front of the tv, catching up on the events from the previous night, everything they’d missed while they were out on patrol. Arthur was in the shower, part of his own morning routine; shower, then coffee and breakfast. Tick was looking forward to breakfast today, they’d got some kind of new special bacon.

Tick had noted down all the leads they had to follow throughout the day, and now he was catching up on… Tick wasn't really sure what they were, they were interesting shows that showed people's lives, but Arthur always insisted they weren’t real. They sure seemed real!

There was one storyline he was incredibly interested in currently; a woman was fighting with her husband over custody of her children, though the story seemed to have shifted slightly to her lawyer.

Tick cocked his head as it showed the man's home, the lawyer and another man sat together on their sofa. Tick’s mouth hung open as he watched them cuddle and talk about their days.

_ ‘Of course I told her about you, you’re my boyfriend what was I meant to do?’ _ the lawyer said to his… boyfriend.

Tick smiled and let out a short laugh. He’d never heard a man call another man his boyfriend! On tv it was only ever men and women, Tick had assumed ‘boyfriend’ could only be used with the dynamic, but apparently not.

“Arthur!” he yelled, getting to his feet and jogging to the bathroom door, knocking hard, “Arthur! There are two men on tv like us! They live together and they’re hugging on the sofa like we do!”

Arthur’s voice came faintly through the door. “Give me a minute!”

Tick’s antenna twitched in frustration, his head turned back towards the livingroom, “I’m missing it,” he mumbled to himself, jogging back in and sitting in the floor, cross legged, a foot away from the tv, watching the happy domestic scene play out.

After a few minutes Tick heard the door to the bathroom open.

“Arthur! Come in here! You gotta see this! They’re paramores… This shorter man is yelling at the taller, just like you and me!”

Eventually Arthur entered the room, Tick turning his head to smile up at him.

“What is it Tick,” Arthur looked down at the tv and frowned, “...This… This is an advert for pillows, Tick, we’ve got plenty of those.”

Tick looked back at the tv, his smile dropping at the sight of some elderly lady laying her head on a square foam pillow. He let out a groan, “Aw, you missed it Arthur. You should’a seen it… Such domestic bliss!”

Arthur nodded, distracted, he was looking down at the pile of papers in his hands. “You can rewind it in a second, Tick, there are some letters here that don’t look like junk…”

Arthur frowned and began to open the letters as Tick busied himself with the tv. 

“Tick,” Arthur said softly, “This one’s for you.” There was a strong tone of confusion to his voice, Tick never got letters.

Tick took it, his antennae twitching with matching confusion, “Curious! What business could anyone have with me?”

Arthur shrugged, sitting down and staring at the letter, “W-Well open it then?”

Tick nodded and tore the paper, pulling out the letter and frowning at it, “It appears I have been sent some kind of collage?”

Arthur’s eyes widened, his stomach twisting in shock, “Wait, let me see,” He snatched the letter, turning it to read it himself.

There was a message stuck to the paper made of newspaper clippings, like something out of an old crime drama.

‘ _ W e  a r e c o m i n g f o r y o u, Tick , w e w i l l u n m a s k y o u _ ’ the message read.

Arthur’s face paled a little, “Wh-what is this?” he said quietly. He shook his head, his stomach twisting as he looked over at his partner, “This has got to be a joke or something.”

Tick frowned in confusion, “A new evil arises…”

“Wh-why would anyone want to unmask you Tick? How could they even do that? You don’t even know who you are!?” Arthur spewed out nervously.

Tick looked up at Arthur from his seat on the floor, “Although I don’t know who I am that doesn’t mean people with that knowledge don’t exist.” He smiled, “It’s a new mystery for you to solve, Arthur! You should be happy.” He took the letter back, looking at it again, “The first mystery is: why are they communicating in these strange runes.”

“They’re…” Arthur paused mid correction and frowned, “Actually that is a pretty good question. Why didn’t they just write it out on word and print it?”

Tick grinned, “They have a flare for the dramatic!”

Arthur sighed softly, “Yeah, just like you,” he tapped his foot in thinking. “This is serious Tick, they’re going to come for you and try to unmask you…”

Tick chuckled loudly, “Oh, Arthur, with my body and your brain and voice box, these dramatic mystery men don’t stand a chance.”

Arthur nodded slowly, “Yeah…” he smiled softly, “I think, if we’re going to deal with this, we need to play on their level, they won’t see that coming.”

“Perfect!” Tick said, clasping his hands together, “What’s the plan, chum?!”

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, I'm still writing my other tick fic too.


End file.
